Murphy Laws Site - Murphy Laws If anything can go wrong, it will Corollary: It can Corollary sent by Dr. Allen Roberds Corollary: It should Corollary sent by Earl R. Johnson Extension: it will be all your fault, and everyone will know it. Extension sent by Dean A. Izett If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong Extreme version: If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the FIRST to go wrong Extreme version sent by Neal Miller If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop Corollary: It will be impossible to fix the fifth fault, without breaking the fix on one or more of the others Corollary sent by Sean Cheshire Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something Nature always sides with the hidden flaw Corollary: The hidden flaw never stays hidden for long.

Corollary sent by Dave M. Mother nature is a bitch Addendum: and not an obedient one at that Addendum sent by Paul Kekanovich Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics Things get worse under pressure. The Murphy Philosophy Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse. Quantization Revision of Murphy's Laws Everything goes wrong all at once. Murphy's Constant Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value Murphy's Law of Research Enough research will tend to support whatever theory. Research supports a specific theory depending on the amount of funds dedicated to it. In nature, nothing is ever right. Therefore, if everything is going right ... something is wrong. More Laws Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse. Rule of Accuracy: When working toward the solution of a problem, it always helps if you know the answer. Corollary: Provided, of course, that you know there is a problem. Nothing is as easy as it looks. Everything takes longer than you think. Everything takes longer than it takes. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first. Every solution breeds new problems. The legibility of a copy is inversely proportional to its importance. no matter how perfect things are made to appear, Murphy's law will take effect and screw it up. Sent by Mitch You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the bread to butter. The chance of the buttered side of the bread falling face down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet. Sent by Paul Breen The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet. More Laws of Selective Gravitation. A falling object will always land where it can do the most damage. A shatterproof object will always fall on the only surface hard enough to crack or break it. A paint drip will always find the hole in the newspaper and land on the carpet underneath (and will not be discovered until it has dried). A dropped power tool will always land on the concrete instead of the soft ground (if outdoors) or the carpet (if indoors) - unless it is running, in which case it will fall on something it can damage (like your foot).

If a dish is dropped while removing it from the cupboard, it will hit the sink, breaking the dish and chipping or denting the sink in the process. A valuable dropped item will always fall into an inaccessible place (a diamond ring down the drain, for example) - or into the garbage disposal while it is running. If you use a pole saw to saw a limb while standing on an aluminum ladder borrowed from your neighbor, the limb will fall in such a way as to bend the ladder before it knocks you to the ground. If you pick up a chunk of broken concrete and try to pitch it into an adjacent lot, it will hit a tree limb and come down right on the driver's side of your car windshield. More Laws of Selective Gravitation were sent by Jack from the Classic CKLW Page The greater the value of the rug, the greater the probability that the cat will throw up on it. You will always find something in the last place you look. If your looking for more than one thing, you'll find the most important one last. Sent by Alegna It is never in the last place you look. It is in the first place you look, but never discovered on the first attempt.

Sent by Peter After you bought a replacement for something you've lost and searched for everywhere, you'll find the original. Sent by ClaytonPrc@aol.com No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper. The other line always moves faster. In order to get a personal loan, you must first prove you don't need it. Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost you more than you thought. If you fool around with a thing for very long you will screw it up. If it jams - force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway. When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly. Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it. Everyone has a scheme for getting rich that will not work. In any hierarchy, each individual rises to his own level of incompetence, and then remains there. There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over. When in doubt, mumble. When in trouble, delegate. Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening. Murphy's golden rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.

A Smith & Wesson beats four aces. In case of doubt, make it sound convincing. Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference. Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed. No good deed goes unpunished. Sent by John Cougar and by getalife who asks "who wrote that?". Illustrious Blackbird knew the answer, it was Samuel L. Clemens also known as Mark Twain. Where patience fails, force prevails. Heisenberg indetermination principle applied to ill luck: The better you know the amount of ill luck that will strike you, the worse you know when this will happen, and vice-versa. and Relativistic correction of Murphy's law: Whether things can go wrong or not, it depends on your frame of reference. Corollary (otherwise said: ill luck is actually absolute): Regardless of your frame of reference, things will go wrong anyway. Were sent by Simone Penzavalle . If you want something bad enough, chances are you won't get it. If you think you are doing the right thing, chances are it will back-fire in your face. When waiting for traffic, chances are that when one lane clears the other is congested.

Just when you think things cannot get any worse, they will. Remember the "Boomer-rang" effect; Whatever you do will always come back. If you re-act to actions, you've acted on actions. He who angers you controls you, there-fore you have no control over your anger. The last SEVEN laws were sent by Leesa , Thank you. Any time you put an item in a "safe place", it will never be seen again. Your best golf shots always occur when playing alone. The worst golf shots always occur when playing with someone you are trying to impress. No matter how hard you try, you cannot push a string. (getting everyone in the family to the car at the same time for example) The fish are always biting....yesterday! You will never leave a parking space without someone in an adjacent space leaving at the same time. The cost of the hair do is directly related to the strength of the wind. Great ideas are never remembered and dumb statements are never forgotten. The clothes washer/dryer will only eat one of each pair of socks. EIGHT laws were sent by Charles L. Mays , Thank you. Being dead right, won't make you any less dead.

and Having the right of way, won't make you any less dead. Sent by anonymous Whatever you want, you can't have, what you can have, you don't want. Whatever you want to do, is Not possible, what ever is possible for you to do, you don't want to do it. Traffic is inversely proportional to how late you are, or are going to be. The complexity and frustration factor is inversely proportional to how much time you have left to finish, and how important it is. The four last laws were sent by Joe Crespins law of observation: No degree of acceptance can ever change the facts. Translation: You may come to terms with being screwed, but nevertheless you're still screwed. Hunter's Corollary to Murphy's Law: Things always go from bad to worse. Hunter's Observation on Beauty: Beauty is only skin deep, fashion even shallower. Hunter's Observation on Experts: An expert is someone with an opinion and a word processor. Hunter's Observation on Sugarcoating: All pornography is air-brushed or computer-enhanced. Hunter's Observation on hypocrites: A person without values or standards can never be a hypocrite.

Hunter's Observation on Education and Oz: "We can give you a diploma, but we can't give you a brain." The last six laws were sent by Hunter Sgt. Murphy's Law Don't get into a pissing contest with a skunk. Sent by Bird Waring The Law of Stupid Tricks Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD. Garbage abhors a vacuum. It will grow to fill available space. Corollary: The more space you have, the more junk you'll have. Paper is always strongest at the perforation. Sent by Mike Sent by Ken Kaplan Uffelman's Razor: [Given Murphy's law, ...] One should not attribute to evil design any unfortunate result which can be attributed to error. A mistake (or series of mistakes) is the simpler and more likely explanation. Conspiracy Corollary to Uffelman's Razor: Nothing should be attributed to conspiracy that can be explained by error or a succession of errors. Example 1: The alleged conspiracy to "fake" the Apollo moon landing. Such an undertaking would be so likely to result in multiple glitches that it would be nearly impossible to pull off. Thus, conspiracy is an unlikely explanation of events.

Accordingly, the "evidence" of the "faked" landing is more likely a result of the errors of those interpreting the evidence than of the evil design of the alleged conspirators. Example 2: The Warren Report. Any open questions in the Warren Report are more likely the result of the errors of the Warren commission, or the errors of those interpreting the Warren Report, than the result of a conspiracy to cover up the true facts. Science Jokes:9. MISCELLANY : 9.6 MURPHY'S LAW 9.6 MURPHY'S LAW [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] MURPHY'S LAWS THE PRIME AXIOM: In any field of scientific endeavor, anything that can go wrong, will. 2. If the possibility exists of several things going wrong, the one that will go wrong is the one that will do the most damage. 3. Everything will go wrong at one time. 3.1 That time is always when you least expect it. 4. If nothing can go wrong, something will. 5. Nothing is as easy as it looks. 6. Everything takes longer than you think. 7.

Left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse. 8. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. 9. Given the most inappropriate time for something to go wrong, that's when it will occur. 10. Mother Nature is a bitch. 10.1 The universe is not indifferent to intelligence, it is actively hostile to it. 11. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. 12. If in any problem you find yourself doing an immense amount of work, the answer can be obtained by simple inspection. 13. Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to make it complex and wonderful. 14. If it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer. 15. In an instrument or device characterized by a number of plus-or-minus errors, the total error will be the sum of all the errors adding in the same direction. 16. In any given calculation, the fault will never be placed if more than one person is involved. 16.1 In any given discovery, the credit will never be properly placed if more than one person is involved. 17. All warranty and guarantee clauses become invalid upon payment of the final invoice. 18.

Murphy's Law: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] From: Freek <frbrysse#NoSpam.vub.ac.be> "Proof of Murphy's Law: Murphy's Law cannot be proven, yet is correct, as when you try to prove Murphy's Law, you will see that the proof is incorrect. This is obviously due to Murphy's Law, therefore Murphy's Law is correct and proven." [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] From: robertgwirth#NoSpam.usfamily.net Murphy's Law is self-proving because: 1. Murphy's Law states: "If anything can go wrong, it will." 2. If Murphy's Law, "If anything can go wrong, it will," is true, then Murphy's law itself can go wrong. 3. If Murphy's law can go wrong, then things can sometimes go right. 4. Things do sometimes go right, as proved by experience. 5. Therefore, Murphy's Law can go wrong. 6.

Therefore Murphy's Law, "If anything can go wrong, it will," is true. 7. Therefore Murphy's Law is self-proving. Q. E. D. [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] From: Brian G. Thomas <bgthomas#NoSpam.uiuc.edu> Corollary to Murphy's Law (paraphrased): If it can be shown that something that could have gone wrong did not go wrong, then subsequent events will prove that everything would ultimately have turned out better if that thing had gone wrong. From: goble#NoSpam.infonaut.com (Clark Goble) As soon as you make something idiot-proof, along comes another idiot. -- Grave's Law engineering [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] LAWS RELATING TO DESIGN: 1. In any given price estimate, the cost of the equipment will exceed estimated expenditure by a factor of 3. 2. Dimensions will always be expressed in the least useable terms. For example, velocity will be expressed in furlongs/fortnight. 3. If the breadbox trial model functions perfectly, the finished product will not percolate. 4.

In a mathematical calculation, any error that can creep in, will. It will be in the direction that will do the most damage to the calculation. 5. In any collection of data, the figures that are obviously correct, beyond all need of checking, contain the errors. 6. The probability of a dimension or value being omitted from a drawing is directly proportional to its importance. 7. In specifications, Murphy's Law supersedes Ohm's. 8. Information necessitating a change in design will be conveyed to the designer after, and only after, the plans are complete. 9. In simple cases, presenting one obvious right way vs. one obvious wrong way, it is often wiser to choose the wrong way so as to expedite subsequent revisions. 10. The more innocuous a modification appears to be, the further its influence will extend and the more plans will have to be redrawn. engineering [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] LAWS RELATING TO ASSEMBLY: 1. If a project requires n components, there will be n-1 components available. 2. Interchangeable parts won't. 3. Components that must not and cannot be assembled improperly will be. 4.

The most delicate component will be dropped. 5. The construction and operation manual will be discarded with the packing material. The garbage truck will have picked it up five minutes before the mad dash to the rubbish can. 6. The necessity of making a major design change increases as the assembly and wiring of the unit approach completion. 7. THE LAW OF SELECTIVE GRAVITATION: A dropped tool will land where it will do the most damage. 8. A component selected at random from a group having a 99% reliability will be a member of the 1% group. 9. Tolerances will accumulate unidirectionally toward maximum difficulty of assembly. 10. The availability of a component is inversely proportional to the need for that component. 11. If a particular resistance is needed, that value will not be available. Furthermore, it cannot be developed with any series or parallel combination. 12. After an instrument has been assembled, extra components will be found on the bench. engineering [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] LAWS RELATING TO WIRING, TEST, AND OPERATION: 1. Any wire cut to length will be too short. 2.

Milliampermeters will be connected across the power source, voltmeters in series with it. 3. The probability of an error in the schematic is directly proportional to the trouble it can cause. 4. Identical units tested under identical conditions will not be identical on the final test after being buried under other components and wiring. 5. A self starting oscillator won't. 6. A crystal oscillator will oscillate at the wrong frequency -- if it oscillates at all. 7. A p-n-p transistor will be found to be an n-p-n. 8. A fail-safe circuit will destroy others. 9. If a circuit cannot fail, it will. 10. A transistor protected by a fast-acting fuse will protect the fuse by blowing first. 11. Probability of failure of a component is inversely proportional to the ease of repair or replacement. 12. A KEY RULE OF STARFLEET OPERATIONS: Some idiot has left open the number two impulse vent.(Check the position of all switches, knobs, and dials before turning on a piece of equipment.

Both you and the equipment will live longer.) engineering [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] LAWS CONCERNING TROUBLE SHOOTING: 1. After the 24th cabinet-to-chassis screw has been removed to replace the under chassis fuse, it will be observed that the line cord plug has become disengaged from the a.c. receptacle. 2. After the 24th cabinet-to-chassis screw has been replaced, the driver tube will be found under the schematic on the bench. 3. The bleeder resistor will quit discharging the filter capacitors as the operator reaches into the power supply enclosure. [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] THE SNAFU EQUATIONS 1. Given any problem containing N equations, there will be N+1 unknowns. 2. The object or bit of information most needed will be least available. 3. The device requiring service or adjustment will be least accessible. 4. In any human endeavor, once you have exhausted all possibilities and failed, there will be one solution, simple, obvious, and highly visible to everyone else. 5. Badness comes in waves.

[ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] 1) Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account." 2) Morton's Law: "If rats are experimented upon, they will develop cancer." 3) Epstein's Axiom: "With extremely few exceptions, nothing is worth the trouble." 4) Mathis' Rule: "It is bad luck to be superstitious." 5) Laura's Law: "No child throws up in the bathroom." 6) "If there is a opinion, facts will be found to support it." -- Judy Sproles. 7) "Rich folks get more strokes." -- Greg Beil. 8) "If A = B and B = C, then A = C except where void or prohibited by law". -- Roy Santoro.

9) Preudhomme's Law of Window Cleaning: "It's on the other side." -- Doug Preudhomme 10) "Anything that happens enough times to irritate you will happen at least once more." -- Tom Parkins 11) Slick's Three Laws of the Universe: "(1) Nothing in the known universe travels faster than a bad check. (2) A quarter-ounce of chocolate = four pounds of fat.

(3) There are two types of dirt: the dark kind, which is attracted to light objects, and the light kind, which is attracted to dark objects." -- Ely Slick 12) The two laws of Frisbee: "(1) The most powerful force in the world is that of a disc straining to land under a car, just out of reach (this force is technically termed 'car suck'); (2) Never precede any maneuver by a comment more predictive than 'Watch this!'" 13) (Sam) Goldwyn's Law: "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on." 14)(Murray) Gell-Mann's Law: "Whatever isn't forbidden is required; thus, if there's no reason why something shouldn't exist, then it must exist." 15) (Mark) Twain's Rule: "Only kings, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial 'we'." 16) "Bodies in motion tend to remain in motion.

Bodies at rest tend to remain in bed." -- Dave Tewksbury 17) Hurewitz's Memory Principle: "The chance of forgetting something is directly proportional to....to....." -- Lane Hurewitz 18) Corry's Law: "Paper is always strongest at the perforations." -- Carolyn M. Corry [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] From: joeshmoe#NoSpam.world.std.com (Jascha Franklin-Hodge) (List of Taglines) Any wire cut to length will be too short. 1st rule of intelligent tinkering - save all the parts If it's not going to plan, maybe there never was a plan. If Murphy's Law can go wrong, it will. Knowing Murphy's Law won't help either. From: Ian Ellis <ian#NoSpam.iglou.com> Science is what happens when preconception meets verification. physics [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] From: "Ian C.

Dengler" <cargan#NoSpam.delrio.com> Murphy's Ten Laws for String Theorists: (1) If you fix a mistake in a mathematical superstring calculation, another one will show up somewhere else. (2) If your results are based on the work of others, then one such work will turn out to be wrong. (3) The longer your article, the more likely your computer hard disk drive will fail while you are typing the references. (4) The better your research result, the more likely it will be rejected by the referee of a journal; on the other hand, if your work is wrong but not obviously so, it will be accepted for publication right away. (5) If a result seems too good to be true, it is unless you are one of the top ten string theorists in the world. (By the way, these theorists refer to their results as "string miracles".) (6) Your most startling string-theoretic theorem will turn out to be valid in only two spatial dimensions or less.

(7) When giving a string seminar, nobody will follow anything you say after the first minute, but, if miraculously someone does, then that person will point out a flaw in your reasoning half-way through your talk and what will be worse is that your grant review officer will happen to be in the audience. (8) For years, nobody will ever notice the fudge factors in your calculations, but when you come up for tenure they will surface like fish being tossed fresh breadcrumbs. (9) If you are a graduate student working on string theory, then the field will be dead by the time you get your Ph.D.; Even worse, if you start over with a new thesis topic, the new field will also be dead by the time you get your Ph.D. (10) If you discover an interesting string model, then it will predict at least one low-energy, observable particle not seen in Nature. In summary, anything in string theory that theoretically can go wrong will go wrong, but if nothing does go theoretically wrong, then experimentally it is ruled out. See explanation String Theory Jokes: Physics 10: String theory is a unification model based on the idea that all elementary particles are different vibrations of a microscopic string.

Concerning (6), string theories are formulated in various numbers of spatial dimensions, of which nine is the most popular. Concerning (10), the phase "low-energy, observable particle" means that current accelerators are capable of producing and detecting it. [ Top of page ] [ Bottom of page ] [ Index ] [ Send comment ] From: "PAUL ROBERT VARLEY" <VAR14084#NoSpam.gorseinon.ac.uk> Varley's Laws of Model Railway Operation (some rather specific cases of Murphy) Zeroth Law: An engine will always derail at the least accessible part of the line. First Law: Engines have two operating speeds: Too Fast and Stop. Second Law: You only discover the loose fishplate _after_ you nail the track down. Third Law: The likelihood of an object falling over is directly proportional to the number of times you've had to stand it up again. 'Murphy's Law' - the meaning and origin of this phrase Murphy's Law The so-called law is usually expressed as 'If anything can go wrong, it will'. Origin Murphy's Law parallels two other common terms for what is essentially the same pessimistic idea - Sod's Law and Finagle's Law.

Of these three, Murphy's Law is by far the more commonly used. The notion that 'if anything can go wrong, it will' is the simplest version of a notion that has been expressed in numerous ways. Many of these pre-date 'Murphy': - Once a job is botched, any attempts to fix it make it worse. - Bread always falls buttered side down . - Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way. The list of names for the supposed phenomenon is also arbitrarily long and, as well as the above 'laws', includes: The Fourth Law of Thermodynamics; Newton's Fourth Law of Motion; The Inverse Midas Touch, etc, etc. In the use of Murphy, Sod and Finagle and also the less common Reilly's Law, the coiners of these names seem to have settled on a theme which calls on perceived negative allusions to the Irish. There is, in fact, nothing to link any of those names to anyone Irish, but they certainly sound as though there could be. In reality, Murphy is commonly thought to be Captain Edward A. Murphy, an American aerospace engineer, who performed studies on deceleration for the U.S.

Air Force in 1949. During the experiments, in which he had a less than cordial relationship with other members of the research team, he noted that if things could be done wrongly, they would be. In subsequent interviews, various team members have stated that they referred to the notion as 'Murphy's Law'. The expression wasn't put into print by them at the time though and the earliest citation of it is in Anne Roe's book The Making of a Scientist, 1952: "There were a number of particularly delightful incidents. There is, for example, the physicist who introduced me to one of my favorite 'laws,' which he described as 'Murphy's law or the fourth law of thermodynamics' (actually there were only three last I heard) which states: 'If anything can go wrong it will.'" Other sources have questioned that the Murphy in the name was an actual person. In his memoire Into Orbit, 1962, John Glenn states that: "We blamed human errors like this on what aviation engineers call 'Murphy's Law'. 'Murphy' was a fictitious character who appeared in a series of educational cartoons put out by the U.S. Navy...

Murphy was a careless, all-thumbs mechanic who was prone to make such mistakes as installing a propeller backwards." The case for Edward A. Murphy being the source is fairly strong, but perhaps not quite 'beyond all reasonable doubt'. Sod and Finagle certainly weren't real people. Sod's Law isn't known until later and the first example of it that I can find is from The New Statesman, October 1970: "Sod's Law... is the force in nature which causes it to rain mostly at weekends, which makes you get flu when you are on holiday, and which makes the phone ring just as you've got into the bath." This is a stronger variant of Murphy's Law, using the expletive 'sod' for accentuation. The term is, of course, short for 'sodomite', although the word had weakened into a general non-sexual term of abuse by 1970 - along the same lines of 'bugger'. Finagle's Law follows a similar pattern. Finagle has been used in the USA, as a verb meaning 'to obtain a result by trickery; to deceive; to wangle'.

A finagler is recorded in the American Dialect Society's Dialect Notes, 1922 as: "One who stalls until someone else pays the check" Soon afterwards (1926), Harold Wentworth listed it in the American Dialect Dictionary as 'US political cant. The term probably had its origin in England. The English Dialect Dictionary lists the words fainaigue and feneague - meaning 'to cheat'. The first example I have of 'Finagle's Law' in print dates from The Indiana Gazette, April 1979, although there are assertions that it dates from the 1940s. There's some evidence to show that Finagle's Law, while no doubt having been influenced by Murphy's Law, is not merely the same notion under another name. Finagle's Law is more often applied specifically as a spoof version of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and is stated as 'The perversity of the Universe tends towards a maximum'. This pseudo-science background also applies to 'Finagle's Constant' - a mythical mathematical constant which is added to one side of an equation to obtain a result when the facts don't match the theory.

10 Murphy's Laws Explained in Great Detail 1. The Original One "If something can go wrong, it will." This is the original and classic Murphy's Law. This law points to the universal nature of ineptitude that results in bad outcomes. Instead of looking at this adage with a pessimistic view, you can think of this as a word of caution. Don't overlook quality control, and don't accept mediocrity. Because a small slip is enough to cause a huge catastrophe. continue reading below our video 10 Facts About the Titanic That You Don't Know 2. Misplaced Articles "You never find a lost article until you replace it." Well, I must admit that I have been a victim of this Murphy's Law a few times. Whether it is a missing report, set of keys, or even a favourite dress, I have found that only when I give up my search and replace the missing item with the new one, that I find the lost article. 3. Value "Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value." Funny how this works! Have you noticed that the most valuable items are irretrievably damaged, while things you don't care for last forever?

So take care of those things you value most, because you may not be able to replace them. More importantly, protect your family , your relationships , your friendships, and your true love . Those are fragile, and irreplaceable. 4. Future "Smile. Tomorrow will be worse." Ever believe in a better tomorrow? Don't. According to this Murphy's Law, you can never be sure whether your tomorrow will be better than today. Make the most of today. That is all that matters. Life is too short to enjoy later. Though there is touch of pessimism here, I'd like to believe that this law teaches us to appreciate what we have today, instead of focusing on a better tomorrow. 5. Solving Problems "Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse." Now, isn't this a common occurrence? Problems left unsolved can only get more complicated. If you don't sort out your differences with your partner, things only get worse from that point on. The important lesson to remember is that you cannot ignore a problem. Resolve it before things go out of hand. 6. Belief "Enough research will tend to support your theory." Here is a Murphy's Law that needs careful contemplation.

Does it mean every concept can be proven to be a theory if adequate research is done? If you want to believe in a certain idea, you can provide enough research to back your idea. The question is whether you are able to look at your research with a neutral viewpoint. 7. Appearances "The opulence of the front office decor varies inversely with the fundamental solvency of the firm." Appearances can be deceptive. A shiny apple could be rotten from inside. Don't get taken by opulence and glamour. The truth is far from what you see. 8. Belief "Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure." When a fact is difficult to contest, people accept it at face value. However, when you present a fact that can be easily verified, people want to be sure. Why is that? Because, invariably humans tend to take overwhelming information for granted. They don't have the resource nor the presence of mind to work out the veracity of a tall claim. 9.

Time Management "The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90% of the time." Though this quote is often attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs, this is also considered a Murphy's Law. It is a humorous take on how many projects often overshoot the deadline. Time cannot be allocated in mathematical proportions. Time expands to fill up the gaps, while it also seems to contract when you need it most. This is a similar to Parkinson's Law that states: Work expands to fill the time available for its completion. However, according to Murphy's Law, work expands beyond the allocated time. Credit: Cultura RM/Jonatan Fernstrom/Getty Images 10. Working Under Pressure "Things get worse under pressure." Don't we all know how true this is? When you try to force things in your favour, they are bound to get worse. If you have a teenager to parent , you would know. Or if you are trying to train your dog , you will have already worked this out. The more the pressure you apply, the less you are likely to be successful. Interesting thought, eh? What is Murphy's Law?

What is Murphy's Law? Edited By: Sara Z. Potter Last Modified Date: 23 December 2016 Copyright Protected: These 10 facts about space will blow your mind Murphy's Law is commonly expressed as "If anything can go wrong, it will." Sometimes "and at the worst possible time" is added at the end of the saying. Many problems, failures, and annoyances are attributed to Murphy's Law, but most people do not know where the name came from. Murphy's Law is usually thought to be named after Captain Edward Murphy, a development engineer with the United States Air Force. In the 1940s and 1950s, he was working with acceleration and deceleration experiments at Edwards Air Force Base. Murphy's Law most likely originated during his projects with Dr. John Paul Stapp. Dr. John Paul Stapp designed experiments around gravity forces, or G-forces. He rode on a rocket-powered sled that accelerated to over 630 miles per hour (over 1000 km per hour). The G-forces were extreme and unpleasant, but even worse was the fact that all the sensors malfunctioned.

When Stapp got off the sled, every sensor read "zero." Captain Murphy checked the sensors and, to his chagrin, learned that every single sensor had been installed the wrong way. He commented that if people had options about how to do something, with one of those options resulting in catastrophe, people will always pick the option that has a catastrophic outcome. Ad Murphy's Law is one good reason why engineers always test, test, and test everything. They need to imagine every possible disastrous outcome in order for these outcomes not to be realized. Using Murphy's Law when designing new technology is also called "defensive design," or "Murphy Proofing." Designers need to take into account all the possibilities that a user will mess up, and somehow make them impossible or at least incapable of causing harm. Many variants of Murphy's Law exist in today's culture. It is generally accepted, for example, that bread will always land jelly side down when dropped, that there will be rain as soon as you wash your car, and that you will always pick the line in the supermarket that doesn't seem to advance at all. People have even been known to try to use Murphy's Law to their advantage, for example, washing cars in order to bring rain.

Ad Risks of General Anesthesia - Liposuction.com Liposuction.com » Risks of General Anesthesia for Liposuction Surgery Risks of General Anesthesia for Liposuction Surgery Systemic Anesthesia and Liposuction Deaths Liposuction surgery can be accomplished safely by general anesthesia or by local anesthesia. However, general anesthesia is more dangerous. Virtually all liposuction deaths that have ever been reported have been associated with systemic anesthesia. In most cases the systemic anesthesia was not directly involved, but it permitted the surgeon to do an excessive amount of liposuction, or to do multiple unrelated surgical procedures on the same day. This includes all five of the deaths recorded by the New York Medical Examiner from 1993 to 1998 and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Rao RB, et al. Deaths related to liposuction. N. Eng. J. Med. 340:1471-1475,1999). Local Anesthesia Local Anesthesia is defined as the infiltration of local anesthesia directly into the tissues targeted for surgery, with or without outpatient oral medication for analgesia, sedation, or to reduce anxiety.

This definition of local anesthesia does allow for the use of medications which are approved for patient self-administration at home. Systemic Anesthesia Systemic Anesthesia is defined as any anesthetic technique, with or without local anesthesia, that has a significant risk and potential for impairing the protective airway reflexes or for suppression of the respiratory drive. Thus, systemic anesthesia includes general anesthesia by inhalation of a volatile gas, total intravenous (IV) general anesthesia, and local anesthesia plus IV analgesia-sedation also known as monitored anesthesia care (MAC). The greatest risks of systemic anesthesia are the dose-dependent impairment of protective airway reflexes and respiratory depression. Modified Tumescent Technique Liposuction by the combination of tumescent infiltration and systemic anesthesia is commonly known by any of the following names: Superwet Technique or Modified Tumescent Technique for liposuction. These names refer to the same liposuction technique which consists of the following: 1) a relatively small volume of tumescent infiltration, 2) some form of systemic anesthesia, and 3) significant volume of IV fluid supplementation. Tumescent liposuction totally by local anesthesia does not use systemic anesthesia nor infusions of large volumes of IV fluids.

Murphy's Law and Systemic Anesthesia Systemic anesthesia is quite safe when delivered by a board certified anesthesiologist. But according to Murphy's Law, nothing is perfect. Murphy's Law states that, "If something can go wrong, it will." When Murphy's Law is applied to the use of systemic anesthesia, it can be stated as, "If something can go wrong with systemic anesthesia, it will; and when it does go wrong, the consequences can be catastrophic." The greatest danger of systemic anesthesia is not any intrinsic pharmacologic property of systemic anesthesia, but rather human error and poor clinical judgment by those who use it. To Error Is Human Several studies have found that approximately 80% of serious complications associated with anesthesia are the result of human error. Lack of attention, haste, fatigue, stress, information overload, worries about pressure to cut costs, and failure to communicate can all lead to inattention and failure to recognize problems. Types of human error that lead to anesthesia related catastrophes include improper interpretation of monitoring device data, failure to check equipment properly, inadequate experience with equipment, incorrect drug dose, and wrong drug given. An undetected accidental disconnection from a ventilator can be fatal in patients unable to breathe without assistance.

Anesthesia Monitoring There are anesthesiologists who assert that modern anesthesia is extremely safe, and that this safety is largely attributable to widespread use of modern anesthesia monitoring equipment. No amount of monitoring can overcome poor clinical judgment or human error or carelessness. Systemic Anesthesia The greatest danger of systemic anesthesia is its tendency to release the surgeon from common sense restraints and to permit too much liposuction. In other words, it is not the systemic anesthesia, but the consequences of using systemic anesthesia that is dangerous. Marathon surgery of up to 8 or more hours duration, involving multiple diverse cosmetic procedures, or mega-volume liposuction of more than four or five liters of fat or liposuction of too many areas of the body are examples of doing surgery far beyond the bounds of commonsense-safety. Succumbing to the urge to do too much cosmetic surgery on one occasion is the greatest risk of systemic anesthesia. Excessive Surgery Alert With liposuction under local anesthesia, the patient can inform the surgeon when there are symptoms of excessive surgery such as lightheadedness, dizziness, difficulty breathing, or unusual pain. With liposuction under systemic anesthesia, an unconscious patient cannot give an alert when the degree of surgical trauma exceeds the safe limits.

Prolonged and excessive surgery significantly increases the risk of blood clots in the lung, fluid overload, excessive bleeding, and serious infections. The true danger of systemic anesthesia is that surgeons find it more difficult to detect when a patient has had too much surgery. How Much Surgery Is Safe? If a patient requests several different cosmetic surgical procedures, the surgeon must choose between two situations: 1) divide multiple surgeries into separate days (safer but more expensive because of the extra time required), or 2) do multiple cosmetic surgeries on the same day (more dangerous because of prolonged exposure to anesthesia and excessive surgery, but less expensive). These two alternatives must be carefully evaluated. Using general anesthesia complicates the analysis. Multiple exposures to systemic anesthesia increase the risks of anesthetic procedures and anesthetic toxicity. On the other hand, exposing the body to excessive surgical trauma increases the risks of infection, increases the need for dangerous postoperative narcotics, and prolonged bed rest increases the risk of pulmonary embolism. When financial considerations or personal convenience are allowed to outweigh safety concerns, the final choice is often in favor of marathon surgery. Delayed Diagnosis of Injury There are some unique hazards associated with the combination of systemic anesthesia plus liposuction that are not as well known.

The greatest danger associated with a penetration of the abdominal cavity with a liposuction cannula is the consequence of a delayed diagnosis. Under general anesthesia, it is more likely that the surgeon will be unaware an intestinal wound and even dismiss complaints of abdominal pain until there are signs of serious infection. Under local anesthesia, such an injury would cause immediate pain and prompt immediate hospitalization and a consultation by a general surgeon without delay. Similarly, general anesthesia will contribute to a delay in the diagnosis of a punctured lung, or fluid overload because of too much IV fluids. Some liposuction surgeons tell their patients that they can expect liposuction by local anesthesia when in fact the anticipated anesthetic technique will rely upon significant doses of IV sedation-analgesia. General anesthesia and IV sedation-analgesia are similar in terms of both risks and requirements for monitoring patients. Liposuction under systemic anesthesia should only be done in an accredited or state licensed surgical facility.

Question: The axiom that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" is commonly known as what?
Answer: Murphy's law